


Beautiful

by stylinurges



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Highschool AU, M/M, Photography AU, Rimming, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-05
Updated: 2013-12-05
Packaged: 2018-01-03 12:55:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1070697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stylinurges/pseuds/stylinurges
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Wait Harry invited you?! You mean the Harry that Louis has been pining over since year seven? The Harry Styles that had Louis call Zayn because he accidently liked one of his facebook statuses from three years ago? The Harry that had Louis-“<br/>“We get it Niall,”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beautiful

“So I told her ‘you can kindly fuck off’, except I didn’t say that out loud, I actually said something like ‘go away’ but that doesn’t matter, and then she threatens to tell Mr. Parker. This bitch threatened to _tell_ on me can you believe her? And-Louis? Louis are you even listening to me?” Perrie snapped her long, manicured fingers in front of Louis’ face, startling the lad.

“Wha? Oh, yeah, I’m listening Pez go on,” he assured her sitting up straighter, focusing his attention back to his best friend. Perrie rolled around and looked behind her shoulder, just as Harry Styles entered the cafeteria.

“I knew it, you were staring again,” she gave Louis a knowing look.

“Was not, just got distracted,” he huffed, blowing his fringe off his forehead.

“Louis, I can tell,"  

“No, you can't."

Perrie took a sip of her diet coke then took a deep breath.

“First, you look at the ground, then at him, then back at the ground for about ten seconds, then you bite your lip and run your fingers through your hair like a fucking madman, then you start to pull at your lip ring, which is a habit you need to break before you tear your lip, you git. And lastly, your eyes glaze over and you just stare, which I think is the point where you stop gawking and start imagining sucking his dick.” Perrie smirked as she saw her friend’s jaw drop.

“Liar,” he grumbled.

“Oh shut up, you know I’m right.”

“You’re a little shit sometimes.”

“Yet here we are, celebrating our, what? Twelve years of friendship?,” Perrie grinned.

“Twat.” 

“Prat,” she shot off, not missing a beat.

“Bitch.”

“Jerk,” Perrie responded, raising her eyebrow and giving Louis a look as if to say _“say something else you git.”_ And for a solid five seconds they just stared at each other, Louis giving a mock glare and Perrie keeping her eyebrow raised. Louis reached for his camera case and pulled out his bulky Nikon, snapping a photo before the two burst out in laughter. 

“You know, one day you’re going to have to show me these photos you keep taking,” she said, still trying to catch her breath. Louis smiled and shook his head, scrolling through the photos on his camera.

“They’re just memories,” his voice sounded far away as he looked at all the images. The majority of them were of Perrie, with her crazy faces and multi colored hair, a lot of them were candid, taken straight from the moment, but there were some posed; from sleepovers where they would stay up all night, Louis doing her hair and then taking ridiculous photos. Some of them were just complete hipster bullshit, black and white shots of his skateboard against a wall or Starbucks. And he would be lying if he said there weren’t one or two photos of Harry he had taken when he was sure nobody had been watching.

“You’re weird. Anyway, have you thought about what your end of year project’s going to be on?” Perrie asked, stealing a few fries from Louis’ tray.

“Probably something with photography, although, I’m going to have to find a new muse, people are beginning to think we’re dating, you?” both Louis and Perrie shuddered at the thought of them actually dating.

“I think I might do a collab with these three other girls from my music class, Jesy, Jade and Leigh-Anne, I think one of them is in your math class. _Anyway_ we were put into a group once for a project, I think it’ll be sweet.” She said, downing the rest of her coke before slamming the can back on the table. “That’s it!” She cried, immediately getting Louis attention.

“Jesus fucking christ Pez, no need to shout,” 

“Oh hush, anyway I’ve figured what you should do for your project, and it involves _you know whoo_ ,” she waggled her eyebrows, laughing when Louis gave a little more attention to her after the mention of Harry.

“Do tell then,” Louis said.

“Use Harry as your muse.” She said replied simply, but her expression made it seem like it was both the most obvious and ingenious idea yet.

“I think the hair dye has gotten to your head.”

“Don't pretend you haven't been practically salivating over the idea all year,” Perrie said watching Louis’ ears turn pink.

“ I can barely be in the same room as him without completely embarrassing myself, how am I supposed to talk to him? Let alone convince him to be my school project,” he looked down at his tray and then back up to Perrie, she had that same glint in her eyes that she got whenever she wanted something.

“Louis, do you want this to happen?” She asked.

“Yes but-“

“No buts, do you, or do you not want this to happen,” she asked again.

“Yes.” He sighed, leaning back against his chair, as a grin spread over Perrie’s face.

“Perrie, it will never work-“

“I’ll have his number by the end of the day,” she interrupted, beaming from ear to ear. Louis sighed once again, “okay fine,” he replied. Perrie squealed and hugged him as best as she could, given there was a table in between them.

“Fabulous! I’ll give it to you after school, you’re still my ride right?” She asked as they both stood up and began to walk towards the door, discarding their trays.

“Yup, I’ll meet you by the flag post after study hall, okay?”

“Alrighty, I won’t let you down Louis I promise,” she replied, hugging him once more before making her way to her locker, which inconveniently was on the opposite side of the school. Louis sighed and looked at the camera case that hung from his neck. _‘This better fucking work Pez’_  he thought to himself as he made his way to his locker. He grabbed his books and made his way over to his AP English class. He walked to the back of the room, sitting in his usual desk, patiently waiting for the class to begin. 

“Well, seeing as all of you are here today, I thought we’d do something different today,” Ms. Lloyd announced from her spot at the front of the room, turning around to write one large word on the black board, underlining it once. 

“Beauty,” she stated, making her way up and down the aisles.

“I’m sure you’ve all had that one moment in life where you see something so amazingly beautiful it’s almost off putting. Like, ‘ _how is it possible for one thing to hold so much beauty?’_ Whether it’s a person or a flower or a painting, I’m sure each and every one of you has had one of these moments,” she continued, moving back to the front of the classroom and leaning on the edge of her desk.

 “We all have our different definitions of beauty so, I’m going to give you two days to write an essay about what _your_ definition of beauty is, but also telling me about the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen. It can be as long or as short as you want, just have it in by Friday, you may have the rest of the class to brainstorm and draft, now go,” she made a sweeping motion with her hands before sitting back down. 

The class immediately began pulling out notebooks and loose sheets of paper, writing down ideas for their essays. Louis just leaned back in his chair, staring at the word printed on the board. His mind quickly began to fill with images of Harry; the first time Louis’ laid eyes on him in fourth year, when he still had that dopey haircut and wore clothes that were way too big for him. Or after winter holiday in tenth when Harry had finally had a growth spurt and grown into his features, now a stunning 6’2. His phone buzzed in his pocket.

**From: Pezza**

**Message: Soooo, guess who got harry’s number ;D**

Louis nearly fell out of his chair, she had actually done it. He typed back a response as fast as he could.

_From: You_

_To: Pezza_

_Message: OMG how?_

**From: Pezza**

**Message: It was easy really, told him you wanted it, poor boy nearly fell out of his chair, anyway I have it.**

Louis nearly squealed, he got Harry Styles’ number. Not only that, Harry Styles _wanted_ him to have his number.

_From: You_

_To: Pezza_

_Message: your incredible, I love you  oh my god,_  

**From: Pezza**

**Message: tell me something I don’t know ;)**  

_From: You_

_To: Pezza_

_Message: shut it, see you after school_

**From: Pezza**

**Message: kayyyyyyy**

He turned slid his phone back into his pocket, staring idly at the clock until the bell finally rang.

“Friday everybody, I expect an essay from all of you. No excuses!” Ms. Lloyd called as they all herded out of the small class room. Louis took his time putting his books in his locker and exiting the building, walking over to where Perrie was standing by the flag pole, surrounded by three other girls.

“So, Friday sounds good?” One girl with long, blue hair asked.

“Yeah sure, Jesy can you give me a ride over to Leigh’s though?” Perrie asked the girl Louis remembered from his maths class.

“Of course!” She responded. All four girls seemed oblivious to Louis’ arrival.

“Excuse me ladies, don’t mean to interrupt but if Pezza here wants a ride then she best get her skinny ass going,” he interjected, all the girls stopped and stared at him, Perrie rolled her eyes.

“Oh, um, Lewis right?” The girl with the very curly hair asked.

“Louis,” Perrie and Louis responded in unison.

“Oh, Sorry! Hi, I’m Leigh-Anne, this is Jade and that’s Jesy,” she replied, pointing over to the girl with blue hair, then to the one from maths. Louis bowed, flourishing his hand out “pleasure to meet you,” the girls giggled while Perrie just rolled her eyes at his antics.

“Anyway, Friday night sounds perfect, see you guys tomorrow then. Bye!” she called as she dragged him away from their spot by the flag pole and over to Louis’ car.

“They seem lovely,” Louis said as he slid into the driver’s seat. Perrie nodded, “yeah they are, this project is going to be fun I reckon,” she replied, fastening her seat belt.

“Where to now m’lady?” Louis asked, starting the car and pulling out of the driveway.

“The Spot of course!” She replied, already hooking up her iPhone to the cars speakers, blasting Beyoncé.

They didn’t say much during the drive, mainly because the music was so loud. Louis pulled into his driveway and both he and Perrie undid their seatbelts, rushing out of the car as fast as they could. 

“You have no chance Tommo!” Perrie called behind her as she sprinted behind the house and into the woods, Louis following quickly behind. Louis reached the old oak tree and looked around him, Perrie was nowhere in sight.

“God dammit, PEZZA?!” He called into the woods. 

“Yes Lou bear? No need to shout,” Perrie responded, causing Louis to yelp and turn around to see Perrie hanging upside-down. 

“Jesus Christ you’re annoying,” he huffed, grabbing onto the nearest branch and beginning to climb the giant tree.

“Annoyingly amazing you mean,” she corrected, pulling herself up and resting on the branch beside him.

“Nope, just annoying.”

“Fine, then I won’t give you Harry’s number _or_ tell you all the dirty details of our chat,” she replied, crossing her arms over her chest and raising her nose.

“I mean I love you and worship the ground you walk on, you sexy animal tell me everything,"  Louis deadpanned. Perrie sighed and rolled her eyes.

 “Well when you put it _that_ way…okay, here’s what happened: so we’re sitting in history, yeah? And of course Mr. Miller is always late, probably getting a blowie from Cindy if you ask me but anyway, Mr. Miller is late and I’m sitting in front of Harry, who’s talking to Liam, big tall one with the buzz cut. So I turn to Harry and say ‘hey, Harry right?’ And he goes ‘yeah, and you’re Perrie right?’ Like he doesn’t know who I am, and I say ‘yeah, so Harry? You want to go to a movie tomorrow night or something?’ And he looks at Liam with this like nervous look on his face and goes ‘uhh, like a date?’ And I’m pretending to be totally oblivious, the amazing actress I am, and turn the ditzy, blonde charm on ultra irresistible and say ‘yeah!’ and he gives me this really, _really,_ sorry look and says ‘Um, Perrie, you seem like a really sweet girl and all but I, uh, I don’t really like, uh, girls.’” She pauses for a minute to take a breath.

“So what happens next?!” Louis cries, nearly losing his balance and falling out of the tree.

“Shut the fuck up and let me finish you prat,” she snaps, taking a deep breath.

“So then I turn the ditzy, blonde, flirty Perrie off and on goes wing-woman Perrie. So I roll my eyes and say ‘thank god, I had heard the rumors, but had to make sure myself, I'm surprised Eleanor hasn’t tried to ‘change your mind.’ And now both him and Liam are laughing, because I’m fucking hilarious, and at the fact that Harry is about as straight as Leigh-Anne’s hair. So he’s got his feet on his desk now, right? And he’s leaning back laughing and I say ‘in all seriousness though, what do you think of my friend Louis?” This time Louis gasps, his entire face beginning to heat up.

“Oh my god you didn’t, oh my god what did he say?!” He nearly shouted, not being to hide his own nervousness at the thought of his crush of nearly four years being asked what he thought of him; Perrie just grins.

“I shit you not, all of the little color in that pales boys face _drained_ , and he stops laughing completely, and he gives Liam that look again, that nervous ‘what do I do?!’ Look and Liam just shrugs and smiles at him and then he looks back at me and goes ‘he’s, um, cool, yeah, he’s cool. Why did he say something about me?’ And Liam gives him the look I always give you when you stare too much like ‘really, _reeaallyy?’_ So me, being as cool as I am, I say ‘eh, he just wanted to know if he could have your number, he knows I have history with you so he told me to ask.’ And this boy, I shit you not, nearly _falls off his chair._ No joke he has to grab onto Liam’s arm, who’s laughing like a mad man now, to steady himself, and when he sits up his face is _beet red._ I swear I’ve never seen anyone blush so hard, and he scrambles for his notebook and goes ‘yeah, yeah, of course he can um here, just, um, give this to him I guess, yeah that’d be cool yeah,’ and writes it down and folds it up and gives to me, he’s very literate Lou, you picked a keeper. Anyway, here’s the note, haven’t bothered to look at it, figured I’d wait till I was with you.” She handed him a small, neatly folded square of binder paper, Louis stared at it as if was a message from god himself.

"You, know, it won't do you much good unless you open it Lou," Perrie laughed, leaning her head against the tree. Louis gave her a sidelong look, before gulping and unfolding the sheet of paper. 

_546-6754-3856_

_So yeah, call me?_

_Harry x_

Once again, Louis nearly fell out of the tree.

"What the hell is up with you Tommo?" Perrie raised an eyebrow.

"Perrie look," he pointed to the note, she gave him another odd look. 

"Yes, he wrote his phone number down I see."

"No, Perrie, _look,"_ he pointed at the boys signature. Perrie's eyes widened before she looked back up at her friend.

"Awwww, he likes you!" She cooed, ruffling his hair. Louis ducked away from her hand.

"No he does not, he's probably just friendly is all," he replied, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"Oh hush, why wouldn't he like you, you're perf Lou. What time is it anyway?" She asked, leaning over to watch Louis' put the phone number into his contacts.

"Um, s'about five thirty, we should probably head back though, v'got an English essay to write," he replied beginning to make his way down the tree, Perrie not far behind. They made their way back out of the trees in silence, listening the how the leaves crunched under their shoes. Soon enough they were back at Louis' car. Perrie turned to him, placing her hands on his shoulders.

"Promise me that'll you'll text him?" She asked. Louis nodded.

"I will text him, promise,"

" _Tonight,_ Lewis," she huffed, Louis rolled his eyes, "yes okay tonight I promise," he replied. Perrie grinned before turning and skipping over to her house, directly across the street from his. 

"Brilliant! I'll see you in the morning!" She called behind her, before shutting her front door. Louis sighed once again and made his way into his own house.

"Mum I'm home!" He called as he ran up the stairs.

"Hello dear, dinner's at seven," she replied from the living room.

"Alright mum," he responded, pulling on the string in the ceiling that brought down the latter to his room.

Louis loved his room, it was his pride and joy. He had always loved photography so when his parents let him move into the attic on his sixteenth birthday, he made it his duty to make the best studio he could. On one side of the room there was a bed and a desk , facing the large window that overlooked the cul-de-sac, a book shelf and bedside table and a large beanbag the Perrie had found one day and gave to him. But, on the other side of the room, there was a large white background hanging from the ceiling, two large, professional looking lights with the special shades used for photography (Louis really should know what they're called but oh well). There's a shelf on the far wall where he keeps his lenses and camera charger. And the opposite wall was covered in photos, some large and some small, yeah Louis loved his room.

He dropped his backpack at the foot of his bed before laying down himself, staring out of the window and at the horizon. After a few minutes his phone buzzed in his pocket, he pulled it out, a message from Perrie flashed on the screen.

**From: Pezza**  

**Message: do it.**

He rolled his eyes before typing out a response.

_From: You_

_To: Pezza_

_Message: alright alright i'm doing it._

He dropped his phone onto his chest, staring up at the ceiling. ' _It's now or never Tommo'_ he thought to himself, sighing before picking up his phone again.

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Hey Harry, it's Louis_  

He nearly jumped when he received a response almost immediately.

**From: Harry**

**Message: Hey  what’s up?**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: nothing really, should be doing homework_

Louis really couldn’t believe it, he was actually having a conversation with Harry Styles, and it wasn’t going terribly.

**From: Harry**

**Message: Oooo, aren’t we a rebel ;)**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Oh totally ;)_

**From: Harry**  

**Message: sooo, this may seem really forward but what are you up to Saturday night?**

Louis’ heart leaped, this was not happening.

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Nothing that I know of, why?_

**From: Harry**

**Message: Well, there’s this party at Andy’s, wondering if you wanted to go?**

Louis had to try his best to hold back a squeal, biting on his palm. Before he could respond, another message came through.

**From: Harry**  

**Message: We could go as a group, I’d bring Li and you could bring Perrie**

Oh. Not a date, a friend thing, all four of them, as friends. Louis sighed, typing back a response. 

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Yeah, okay I’ll tell Perrie, I got to go now, talk to you tomorrow_  

**From: Harry**

**Message: Okay then, talk tomorrow**

Louis tossed his phone onto the foot of the bed.

“Louis! Dinner!” His mum called from downstairs. He hopped off his bed, climbing down the ladder and made his way down to the kitchen.

“So, tell me exactly what happened,” Perrie asked the next morning as they made their way to school.

“Just look at the texts,” Louis shoved his phone her hands, pulling into a parking spot. 

“Well you totally blew him off,” she replied, handing back his phone after scanning though the texts.

“I was discouraged! What was I supposed to do?” Perrie laughed as they made their way into the building.

“Listen, just because he made it a group thing doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you, let’s see how Saturday goes okay? I’ll text you after school, I’m staying over at Leigh’s house tonight so don’t worry about giving me a ride, kiss kiss!” She called behind her as she ran toward the stairs. Louis huffed, hitching his backpack higher on his shoulder. “ _Just get through the day, Tommo”_ he thought to himself, making his way towards his locker.

\--

**From: Pezza**

**Message: You can’t let this Harry thing get you down Lou,**  

He was laying in bed now, surprised by how quickly the day seemed to pass when he avoided literally everyone.

_From: You_

_To: Pezza_

_Message: I mean, it’s not like its getting me down because I mean I do get to hang out with him for a bit and that’s awesome, I just wish he had asked differently, not make it a group thing you know? Stop worrying about me and go sing your heart out child or whatever._

He turned slid his phone back into his pocket and pulled his computer onto his lap. He opened up Tumblr, he scrolled through his dashboard, not bothering to actually pay attention to any of the actual posts, before scrolling back up to his blog. He opened up one of the albums titled "Love Patient, Love is Kind” from when he was asked to help with Perrie’s presentation on love equality.  The majority of it was photos of gay and lesbian couples he found around London, some quotes he had found around the city as well, written on bathroom walls and spray painted on school; he scrolled until he found his favorite photoset. It was made up of screen shots from a video interview he’d done with Zayn and Niall, the first photo had Niall with his head thrown back laughing, with Zayn leaning back and giving the boy the most heartfelt look Louis had ever seen. In the second Niall will still laughing, his face visibly darker even in the black and white photos, but Zayn’s position had changed, he was sitting up now, still making heart eyes at the blonde, his hand on the lads shoulder. The third had Niall slightly facing Zayn now, face still slightly darker, but he wasn’t laughing as much, it was more of a giggle. In the fourth Zayn’s hand was cupping the side of Niall’s face, both boys grinning. And the last showed the two boys kissing, Zayn’s hand cupping Niall’s face. It was possibly the most heartfelt and adorable thing Louis had ever witnessed.

Sometimes it made Louis really upset, Zayn and Niall’s relationship, they’d been together since sixth year, and here was Louis, in year eleven, who had never had a proper boyfriend in his life. Oh no, Louis just had to become enamored with a tall, curly-haired boy in fourth year, making him physically available, but emotionally taken. He sighed, closing his laptop and setting it on his side table. He lay back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He let his eyes droop, slowing letting himself become enveloped in the warm embrace that was sleep. But as if perfectly timed, his phone had other plans, buzzing just before Louis was about to slip into a dreamy wonderland.

**From: Harry**

**Message: Hey, so um about tomorrow night..**

Louis sighed, typing back a response.

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Oh yeah, forgot about that_

Okay sure, not the best response, but since it was a group thing, and Harry obviously didn’t have feelings for him, Louis didn’t really care; okay Louis cared a _lot_ but nobody needed to know that.

**From: Harry**

**Message: Oh, um, if you don’t want to go it’s cool.**

Shit _._

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: nononono, I do, what time does the party start?_

**From: Harry**

**Message: Around ten thirty I think.**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Okay, do you and Liam  want to head over around ten and then we can go?_

**From: Harry**

**Message: Sure, what’s your and Perrie’s address?**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Pez lives across the street, you can just pick us up at mine, address is 162 Mason Street_

**From: Harry**

**Message: Alrighty, we’ll come by then**  

_From: You_

_To: Pezza_

_Message: Awesome, see you then_

He threw his phone towards the end of the bed, “ _well, got that over with”_ he thought to himself, he looked over towards the clock, nine thirty. He turned off the lamp by his bed, pulling the covers up and resting his head back on the pillow. 

Once again, as if it were fucking clock work, his phone screen lit up just as he was shutting his eyes. He picked it up, nearly going blind from the brightness of the screen.

**From: Harry**

**Message: So, I’m curious, why’d you ask for my number**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: to be honest I don’t really know_

**From: Harry**

**Message: it’s odd because we’ve never had a proper chat, then one day this purple haired pixie asks me for my number saying _you_ of all people want it.**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: I admit, that must have been a little creepy, having pez ask_  

**From: Harry**

**Message: Not creepy, out of the blue, but not creepy, if it means anything, I’m glad she did.**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: really now, and why is that?_

**From: Harry**

**Message: You have your secrets, I have mine ;)**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: well aren’t we the mysterious one_

**From: Harry**

**Message: What can I say? I like keeping you on your toes**

Holy shit. Holy fucking shit this was not happening.

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: That was somehow really hot_

**From: Harry**

**Message: Maybe that was my intent**  

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: was it now?_

**From: Harry**

**From: The world may never know ;D**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: jfc Harold._

**From: Harry**

**Message: Goodnight Louis, I’ll see you tomorrow x**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Alrighty then Harold just leave me hanging on a ledge here awesome, goodnight x_

**From: Harry**

**Message: ;P xx**

Louis shut his phone off and plugged it in on his bedside table. His face was nearly aching due to the fact that he hadn’t stopped grinning throughout the entire conversation.

He lay back down, folding his hands behind his head, staring at the moonlight that shown through his window, creating a milky glow at the end of his bed.

“Maybe this party won’t be bad after all,” he whispered to himself as he closed his eyes.

Louis doesn’t remember falling asleep, then again who remembers falling asleep? He remembers shutting his phone off and staring up at the ceiling but yet here he is, lying in bed very much awake. The sun shining through his window gave light to the entire room, reflecting off the white background from the studio and, of course, into his eyes. What he didn’t remember, though, was having another person in his bed.  He sat up, rubbing his eyes and staring at the other body in his bed.

It’s not like this is unusual, sometimes one of his sisters would come to lay with him if they have bad dreams, but ever since the twins turned thirteen, it hasn’t happened too much. 

When he sees the tuft of purple hair poking out from under the blankets he knows exactly who it is.

“Pez?” he asks, voice still rough and groggy from sleep. The small girl shifts at the sound of his voice.

“Mm, morning sunshine,” she responded, sitting up and stretching her arms and shaking out her hair. 

“Morning. So you want to help me understand how you got into my bed?” He asks.

“Well, I slept over at Leigh-Annes, but apparently she had her sisters soccer game which was all the way out in the city, so we all had to leave at, no joke, five am. So, because I’m me and couldn’t be fucked to put on normal clothes and go home, I just left my pajamas on and came here,” she replied, raking her hair up into a bun.

“Pez, you live across the street, why couldn’t you have just gone home?”

“Well, One, I didn’t want to wake up the dog, and therefore the entire household, two, I was going to end up here anyway, seeing as you and I need to make a plan for tonight, and three, your mom makes awesome pancakes on Saturdays and heaven forbid she make too many and have to throw some away,” she replied. Louis rolled his eyes, trying his best to hold back his laugh.

“You know, with your appetite, I’m surprised you and Niall aren’t BFF’s,” he said.

“Oh shut up and go get me food,” she laughed and gave him a shove.

Reluctantly, Louis got out of bed, making his way towards the latter.

“Don’t touch my stuff!” He called as he climbed down.

“If I touched your stuff you would never know about it!” She called back as he made his way down the stairs, every time he left her alone in his room it was the same. “Don’t touch my stuff” “If I touched your stuff you’d never even know.”

He padded into the kitchen to find, of course, to big plates of pancakes stacked on a platter, with a bottle of maple syrup and two glasses, one filled with orange juice, and one with apple.

“Perrie up?” His mother asked, flipping another large pancake.

“Yeah, what time d’she get in?” He asked, stealing a piece of bacon from the large plate on the counter.

“Around five thirty, m’glad I gave her that key, heaven forbid she woke the twins.”

“Yeah, we’re going to a party tonight so don’t set the alarm, I’ll do it when I get in.” He replied, leaning against the counter adjacent to his mother.

“I won’t, now go take that poor girl her food before it gets cold,” she scolded, shooing him away with the spatula.

“I am, I am,” he rolled his eyes, but grabbed the tray.

“You know, you two have spent quite the amount of time together, are you sure you don’t have-“

“I’m gay mom,” he said as he began to exit the kitchen.

“I know but you also could be bi and-“

“Gay. I like boys. Boys. Not girls,” 

“All I’m saying is-“

“I’M GAYYYYYYY,” he called behind him as he bound up the stairs as quickly as one could with a tray of pancakes in their hands. 

For someone else, climbing a latter with one hand while holding a tray of pancakes in the other would be a difficult, if not impossible task. But, seeing as Louis had done it well over a hundred times, he made his way up the latter with ease, setting the tray down on the floor before pulling the latte up and shutting the trap door behind him. Perrie jumped out of bed, grabbing the tray and nearly leaping back.

“You’re welcome,” Louis said, standing up and walking towards the bed.

“Fank you Louisssss,” she responded around a mouthful of food.

“Sooo, guess who texted me last night?” He said, poking around at his plate of food.

“I know who, but because I’m your best friend, I’m going to let you tell me,” she replied, already leaning to grab his phone.

“Harry!” Louis’ voice came out about three octaves higher than it should have, Perrie’s head shot up from its original position, staring at Louis’ phone.

“Dude. Did you just fucking squeal?”

“No. I did not squeal. I am a man. Men do not squeal. It was a manly shout. Not a squeal. Manly shout,” he retorted, cheeks going hot. Perrie rolled her eyes, snorting.

“Whatever floats your boat Lou, so are you capable of telling me about the textversation in coherent sentences, or should I just read it from you phone?” She asked, holding Louis’ phone up for a moment. He pondered the question for a moment. 

“I feel like I would try to tell you everything but then end up ranting about how absolutely _perfect_ he is because _ohmygod_ Perrie he _is_ and I just-“

“So I’m going to go ahead and start reading so, if you want, you can keep talking, just know that I’m not listening,” Perrie interrupted, unlocking his phone and beginning to scroll to the top of his messages. Louis huffed again, disappointing that he didn’t get to finish talking about Harry, because really, he could go on forever. He dragged his fork over his plate not really hungry, in all honesty he was too nervous about tonight to eat anything.

“So I’ve come to a conclusion,” Perrie broke the silence, shutting his phone and tossing it over in the general direction of his bedside table.

“And what is that?” He asked, abandoning the plate of food.

“Harry Styles wants to be inside you, or under you or I don’t know what you're into but whatever it is he wants that,” she replied, as simply as if she were explaining a math problem.

“Jesus Perrie no he does not, he’s probably just really friendly, that’s all,” he replied, cheeks turning a deep pink.

“Mmhmm, you know, there’s a rule when it comes to using signs of affection x’s o’s hearts whatever, one means ‘yeah you’re cute,’ two means ‘yeah, I like you,  I would enjoy seeing you with as few clothes as possible please’ and three means ‘are you fucking blind, I want you,’” she replied, taking a huge gulp of her juice.

“Sure, and who exactly created this rule miss Perrie?” He rolled his eyes, taking a small sip of his full glass of juice.

“I did, of course, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true and you know it,” she quipped, finishing off her food. Louis just looked down at his plate and smiled, there was always that voice in his head saying ‘ _he’s just friendly Louis’_ but in the back of his mind somewhere something is telling him ‘ _maybe he does like you’._

“Come down stairs, I need to ask your mum a question and bring your computer,” Perrie said, picking up the now half empty tray of food. Louis followed her down the ladder and padded into the kitchen.

“JAY, FIZZ, LOTTIE, TWINIES, I NEED YOU!” Perrie screamed, emptying the plates into the dishwasher.

“You know, normally when people come over to other peoples’ houses’ they don’t scream at the top of their lungs at ten am,”

“Well, I have the key to your house, so therefore I live here too,” she replied, grinning as the women of the house slowly made their way into the kitchen.

“Good morning lovelies!” She cried, lighting up the faces of the younger girls. 

Louis’ sisters _adored_ Perrie, she was like their older sister and Perrie adored them just as much, Louis can’t tell you how many times Perrie would blow him off _in his own house_ to give Fizz help with boys and school drama, or to show the twins how to braid their hair at night so it’s not a complete mess in the morning. She really was the sister they never had.

“Now, you must be wondering ‘ _why on earth is this crazy lady calling me out of bed at ten am on a Saturday?’_ Well, as lovely as your brother is, he is not a woman, and therefore is unable to give good womanly advice so I-“

“Is this something about periods because if so I’ll let myself out,” Louis interrupted, beginning to walk past the some group of women.

“Oh shut it Tommo,” Perrie snapped, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and pulling him back.

“Anyway, I need advice, so I thought ‘ _who better to give me advice than my lovely sisters and second mother?’_ And here we are!” The girls’ faces’ practically split from smiling so big.

“Of course Perrie, anytime,” Jay said, smiling just as big as her three daughters.

“Fabulous. So here’s what I need assistance with, I kind of fell in love with this hair color and I need your opinions,” she grabbed Louis computer, firing up and typing furiously.

Perrie was known for her hair. Naturally, it was bleach blonde making it perfect for dying, so that’s what she did. She went from blonde, to electric blue, red, pink with red undertones and now, electric violet.

“So, here it is,” she said, stepping back from the screen to show them the photo set on the computer. There was a girl, her face covered, her hair was split into different sections, each individually curled, each a different color of the rainbow, starting with a purple fringe, it faded into indigo, into blue, into green, yellow, orange, and then finally, red. Louis had to admit, it was sick.

“Let me look at you,” Jay said, after looking at the photos. Perrie stood up straighter, letting Jay spin her around and touch her hair.

“I think, with your natural color being so blonde and you being so pale, I’m sorry love but it’s true, it would look lovely,” she stated, the girls nodding their heads in unison.

“Yeah Per-Bear, it’d look _so_ pretty,” Fizz said.

“Aww you guys, thank you! So it’s been decided, Louis get whatever you need, we’re heading over to mine, I got the dye and everything,” she squealed. Louis nodded and ran up to his room, he couldn’t be bothered to put on normal clothes, considering he was just going to Perrie’s, so he pulled on a pair of converse, grabbed his phone and bounded downstairs once again.

“I’ll see you tomorrow mum!” he called behind him as he locked the door.

“So, here’s the plan, my hair will take up the majority of the day, then we’ll get ready and make a game plan for this party,” Perrie said as she opened her front door, and they made their way into her room.

“Alrighty, lets do this,” Louis said, cracking his knuckles. 

They walked into Perrie’s bathroom, which was tricked out to look like a real hair salon (really, that’s how many times she did shit to her hair). Perrie sat in one of the plush, hair salon-esc , chairs. 

“You can’t tell anyone about this, okay?” Louis said, making his way to one of the large wire shelves, grabbing to bottle of Color Oops!

“What? That bad boy Louis Tomlinson is secretly my hair dresser? Wouldn’t dream of it, can’t have you doing anyone’s hair but mine babes,” Perrie laughed, Louis soon joining her. 

“Alright then, let’s get down to business, I’m going to keep your fringe the same because they’re going to be purple anyway,” he pulled on latex gloves, snapping them at his wrist. 

He sectioned off her hair, applying the clear liquid evenly throughout her hair.

“You know what we need?” Perrie asked as he was rubbing the rest of the color remover through her hair.

“Netflix?” 

“Yes, Mean Girls,” Perrie said, pulling out her computer and queuing up the movie.

Though he would never admit it, Louis loved days like this. When they did nothing, watching movies, and dying Perrie’s hair, it was relaxing.

Once he got all the dye out he began mixing the new dye, they were only half way through the movie. 

Three quarters of the way into the movie, Louis had about half of Perrie’s hair dyed, carefully timing each bit so as not complete fuck it up.

Once the movie was over, all the dye was in and Louis was watching each section carefully, timing them in his mid.

“Mean Girls two?” Perrie asked, the first words spoken since the start of the movie.

“White Chicks, but first lets wash the dye out,” Louis responded, rolling the chair over to the large sink. Washing all the dye out with warm water. He wrapped her head in a towel and rolled the chair back to where they were before, waiting for Perrie to start the movie before plugging in the blow dryer.

“What do you want to do with it?”

“Straighten it please,”

“Alright,” and with that the silence came back, the only noise coming from the blow dryer and the computer.

Twenty minutes into the movie, Perrie’s hair was dry and Louis was firing up the straightener.

By the time the movie was over, Louis was done. He stepped back to admire his work, pausing the movie and spinning Perrie in her chair.

“How does it look?!” Perrie cried. Louis grinned.

“Take a look,” he watched as she walked over to the large floor to ceiling mirror, eyes going wide as she turned her head from side to side.

“Oh my god…” she murmured, running her hair through the multi colored locks.

“You like it?” Louis asked, smile still plastered on his face.

“Like it?! Dude I love it!” She cried, running back over to her best friend and giving the biggest hug she could. Louis laughed.

“I’m glad, it looks _really_ good Pez,” he replied, Perrie just squealed. 

“I love, love, _love_ it so much oh my god you have no idea,” she gushed, making Louis laugh again.

“Great, now what time is it?” He asked.

“About three, that didn’t take as long as I thought it would, want to go to Starbucks? We can take Trevor,” she said, still looking at her hair in the mirror.

“I can’t believe you named your motorcycle Trevor, scratch that, I can’t believe you actually _named_ your motorcycle,” he replied.

“Oh shut up and lets go,” she rolled her eyes.

“I’m wearing pajamas,”

“Nobody cares, now hurry up,” she retorted, grabbing a sweatshirt and heading out.

“Fine, but you have to promise me you’ll wear a helmet, I do not want to spend another forty five minutes straightening your hair.” He said as he followed her out the front door and to the garage.

“Yes mum.”

“Shut it.”

Perrie giggled, pulling her helmet over her head and throwing Louis his.

“Can I drive?” He asked, Perrie just shrugged, tossing him the keys and getting on the bike. Louis sat on the seat in front of her, waiting for her to wrap her arms around his waist before starting the bike and backing them out of the garage. Starbucks was about a ten minute drive, but on a motorcycle, Louis estimated it to be about seven minutes. 

They sped down the streets, swerving in between cars ad going as fast a legally possible. Louis _really_ loved driving the motorcycle, stupid name or not. Soon enough, they pulled up in front of the Starbucks. Perrie locked up the bike before they both tucked their helmets under their arms and made their way into the store.

“I swear you need to slow down or you’ll kill us both,” Perrie scolded him as they waited to place their order, Louis rolled his eyes.

“I was perfectly safe, a little speed never killed anyone,” he retorted, pushing his now flat fringe out of his eyes. Perrie muttered something along the lines of “not yet at least” under her breath before smiling at the cashier. The boy behind the counter took one look at Perrie and blushed a deep shade of crimson.

“H-Hi, what can I get you two?” He asked, his voice shaking.

“I would like one venti vanilla chai tea latte, and my friend here will take a venti peppermint mocha,” she replied sweetly, batting her eyelashes. Louis snorted, it always weirded him out knowing that people thought Perrie was attractive. Not that she wasn’t, despite his sexuality Louis knew a pretty girl when he saw one, but they were so close that she was a sister to him.

“Sure thing, that’ll be eight ninety-five please, can I get your names?” The boy behind the counter, Adam, his nametag read, asked, pulling out two large cups.

“Louis and Perrie,” she replied, sliding the money over the counter. The boy, Adam, scribbled the names onto the cups and passed them to the girl busy making drinks next to him.

“Thank you and have a nice day, I like your hair by the way,” he said as they made their way over to the seats. Perrie looked behind her shoulder, giving the boy a wink.

“Ew,” Louis said, sticking his tongue out as they walked over to one of the booths.

“Oh shut up-LOOK IT’S ZAYNIE AND NIALLER!” She cried, making a few people in the store turn around and look at the loud girl with brightly colored hair.

“Perrie!” Niall cried, his enthusiasm not as loud as hers, before running up to pick the girl up in a hug. Louis slid in to the seat next to Zayn.

“What’s up man?” He asked, giving the tan lad a half hug.

“Nothing much,” he replied, his eyes trained on the two.

“Where have you guys been the past few days? We’ve missed you at lunch,” Perrie pouted, scooting into one side of the booth next to Niall. Who gave his boyfriend a knowing smile and squeezing his hand, knowing how jealous he gets.

“In the library, Zayn for some reason thought he was going to flunk his English exam, so I was keeping him company,” Niall replied, taking a sip of his drink, Perrie gave Zayn a shocked look.

“You?! Fail English?! Zayn my good man, have you gone mad?” She asked, making the other boy laugh.

“I just got worried, you know how I get when I take exams, I freeze, and there was no way I was going to let myself get bad mark in my best class,” he said, taking a sip from his drink.

“I have a chai tea latte for Perrie and a peppermint mocha for Louis,” the barista called from the counter.

“I’ll get it,” said Louis. He walked over and grabbed the drinks, giving the barista a smile, and walked back over to the table, sitting back down next to Zayn.

“So have you guys ever been to one of Andy Samuels’ parties? He’s having one tonight and Harry invited Louis and I,” Perrie asked, reaching over the table and grabbing her drink from Louis.

“Wait _Harry_ invited you?! You mean the Harry that Louis has been pining over since year seven? The Harry Styles that had Louis call Zayn because he accidently liked one of his facebook statuses from three years ago? The Harry that had Louis-“

“We get it Niall,” Louis snapped, glaring at the blond boy.

“Sorry mate, but he’s got a point, you’ve been obsessed with him for ages,” Zayn laughed, giving Louis a pat on the back.

“Oh _really_ Zayn? Are you choosing to ignore the fact that when you first acknowledged your crush on your boyfriend you called me at two in the morning because, I quote, ‘ _He’s so pretty and I’m sad’,”_ Louis retorted, watching as Zayn’s face turned a dark shade of crimson.

“Wait what?” Niall asked Zayn, who had now put his head on the table. 

“It was a moment of weakness okay?” He responded, voice muffled by his arms, Perrie’s head was thrown back, laughing at the three boys bickered.

“We’re talking about this later, anyway Andy’s parties are really chill, not what you expect though,” Niall said, downing the last of his drink.

“Yeah, and they’re _really_ exclusive, like, it’s almost always the kids in drama and a few others, nothing like Eleanor’s ‘invite everyone and their cousins’ parties,” Zayn finished. 

“Okay, dress code?” Perrie asked.

“Casual, I mean, not as casual as you two are right now, but jeans and a t shirt is fine, don’t wear heels Perrie,” Niall said, giving her a stern look. Another thing Perrie was known for was getting incredibly dressed up, if it weren’t for Louis, she’d be wearing ball gowns to school.

“Fine,” she replied with a pout, crossing her arms with a pout.

“Niall, we gotta go, you’re mum said she wants you back by five, which means she wants you back by four thirty,” Zayn said, he stood up and waited for Niall to awkwardly shuffle across Perrie’s lap and then join him at the hip.

“Well, we’ll see you guys at lunch,” the blond said, grinning as Zayn wrapped his arm around his waist.

“See you,” Perrie replied, giving a small wave as the two made their way out. As they walked towards the door Louis could here Niall say “He’s so pretty and I’m sad huh?” and Zayn reply with a “Shut it,” before they walked out the door.

“It’s weird because, we both know that they’re going to get married, except we don’t know when, like, I half except Zayn to call you in the middle of the night freaking out because he proposed to Niall during sex,” Perrie said, turning both of their attentions from the door. 

“Oh well,” Louis laughed, taking the last few sips of his drink.

“So, lets make a game plan,” she said, discarding her now empty cup by Louis’.

“Well, I was thinking day one or in this case night one, we talk and hang out at this party,” 

“And day two?”

“Day two: suck his dick,” 

“Louis,” She gave him a stern look.

“I’m absolutely joking,” 

“Good so what _I_ was thin-“

“I would absolutely suck his dick tonight if he asked,” he interrupted, laughing when Perrie rolled her eyes and huffed.

“Louis, can you _please_ be serious for like two seconds,”

“Sorry, sorry, go on,” he replied.

“Well, we need to stay as sober as possible,” she paused, waiting for Louis to interrupt her. When he didn’t, she continued.

“So we stay as sober as possible because you my friend, do not make good decisions when you’re drunk.”

Louis raised an eyebrow in question.

“Really, do tell Perrie my dear, when have I made a bad decision while drunk?" He asked, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Year nine, our first high school party of the year, you ended up crying and kissed Niall in front of Zayn. You got punched in the face. Zayn didn't talk to you for the rest of the semester."

"Okay, I admit, I had a moment of weakness-"

"Your best friend punched you in the face," she interrupted, raising her eyebrows. 

"So, no drinking."

"Yeah."

"What time is it?" 

"It is five thirty we should head back."

"I'm driving."

"No, you're not."

"You say that, but you know I'm going to end up driving either way."

"Oh shut up."

\----

**From: Harry**

**Message: Heyy, um, we’re outside I think.**

“Shit Perrie, he’s here, fuck, how did I waste four hours on tumblr shit shit what are we going to do-“

“Shut the fuck up we’re going downstairs,” she dragged him downstairs.

“Byyeeeee Jay,” she called behind them as she shoved Louis out the front door. Perrie waved at Liam, who was sat in the passenger seat of the car parked outside of the house.

“Well hello Rainbow dash,” he greeted her as they climbed into the back seat.

“You like?” She asked, pulling on a strand between her fingers.

“Actually yeah it looks really good, right Harry? _Harry.”_ He gave the boy beside him a hard slap, making him jump.

“Oh, um yeah I like it, hi Louis,” he replied, looking at the boy through the review mirror.

“Hey,” Louis responded.

“Well, let’s get this party started!” Liam cried, queuing Harry to start the engine.

They rode to the party in silence, Louis trying his best not to stare at Harry through the review mirror and trying even harder not to overthink the times he thought he saw Harry staring at him.

“Well, here we are,” Harry said, pulling into the driveway of what Louis assumed was Stan’s house.

They clambered out of the car and made their way up to the doorstep.

The door was open, letting Liam walk right into the house. He turned to face Harry, Perrie and Louis.

“Well, I’ll go get some drinks, Harry show Rainbow Dash and Louis where the magic happens.”

“I’ll go with you!” Perrie volunteered, ignoring the glare Louis gave her.

“Alright you two do that, we’ll be upstairs,” Harry called as the two made there way towards what Louis could only assume was the kitchen.

“So, um this way,” Harry extended his arm towards a hallway, motioning for Louis to go first.

They walked down the hallway, the sound of laughter getting louder and louder, Louis only a few paces ahead of Harry.

Just as they were about to turn into what Louis thought was the main room, he felt a large pair of hands on his hips and warm breath on his neck.

“By the way, you look really _really_ good tonight,” Harry murmured into his ear before giving him a slight push into the room.

Sat on the floor was a circle of about ten other year elevens Louis barely recognized from assemblies. A bottle was in the middle of the circle, slowing spinning before landing on a girl with jet back hair. 

“Ooooohhh Stacey it’s your-hey, who invited the twink?” A boy with shaggy brown hair asked, pointing at Louis, causing the entire circle to stare at the odd boy with red hair in the door way. 

“He is not a twink, he’s a _friend_ , I asked Stan if it was cool, and where is the idiot anyway?” Harry said from the doorway. Louis jumped slightly, he had forgotten that the boy was next to him, focusing more on the semi he was sporting. 

“M’in here!” A muffled voice called from behind a door on the far side of the room.

“Shut the fuck up Stan it hasn’t been seven minutes yet, get back to it!” The boy who had noticed Louis in the first place called, the others snickered. 

“Ew,” Harry said with a scrunched up face. “Anyway, Louis, Phil, Stacey, Margo, Adam, Eleanor, Michal, Hayley, Maya, and James,” he said, extending his arm out. Louis gave a short wave.

“C’mon, let’s sit down,” Harry pulled him over to the circle, squeezing in between the shaggy haired lad, Adam and Eleanor who Louis now remembered as one of the girls from the school play.

Seconds after they had sat down, Perrie and Liam walked in, Liam holding two red cups full of what Louis assumed was beer, and Perrie holding two bottles of water.

“What took you so long Pez?” Louis teased.

“Oh shut up you git,” Perrie snapped, tossing him a bottle. Louis just grinned, pretending not to notice the blush creeping up on her pale face and her slightly messed up hair.

“Oh, hey guys this is um, Rainbo--Perrie, this is Perrie,” Liam stuttered, smiling when Perrie sat next to him, and handing Harry the red cup which was not, in fact, filled with beer.

“Awesome, we’ve added a twink and a fucking My Little Pony to our group, now, if we could _please_ continue, Stacey, truth or dare?” Adam asked, turning their attention back to the girl.

“Hmm, truth,” she replied, giving him a smug smile.

“Ugh, you’re boring, fine, have you ever fucked a teacher?”

“Ew, Adam you’re fucking gross, no. My turn,” she responded leaning over and spinning the bottle, which landed on Harry.

“Ah, Harry, truth or dare?” She asked leaning back onto her space on the floor. Harry shrugged.

“I’m feeling risky tonight, dare.” A chorus of oo’s and ahh’s came from the circle.

“Eh, it’s too early for anything fun, chug it,” Stacey said, motioning at the still full cup in the boys hands. Harry brought the cup to his lips, downing almost all of it in one huge gulp and tilting his head back to swallow the rest. He winced and burped, setting the cup back down, a lazy smile on his face.

“Dude, what the fuck was in that cup?” Louis asked.

“Vodka and sprite,” he replied, smile still plastered on his face.

“Dudddeee, why’d you give him vodka, he’s like the biggest light weight I’ve ever met,”  Margo whined, slapping Liam on the arm.

“Well I didn’t know he’d _chug_ it!” Liam defended.

The closet door opened behind them, out came a blissed out looking Stan and some girl Louis didn’t even pretend to recognize.

“What’d I miss?” Stan asked, sitting down in the circle with the rest of them.

“Harry’s like fucking seven steps closer to being completely trashed,” Adam informed him.

“I am _not_ thank you very much, anyway it’s mine turn,” he leaned over and spun the bottle, which landed on Perrie.

“Dare.” She said, before he could ask her.

“Um, chew and entire pack of mint gum and chug that bottle of water.”

Perrie shrugged, “does anyone have a pack of gum?” She asked.

“I do,” replied Michal, squirming to retrieve the small box out of the back pocket of his jeans.

“Thank you friend,” she replied as he handed her the gum.

“Can we make it a thing where Harry is not allowed to make any dares until he’s had two beers?” Margo said as Perrie began to unwrap sticks of gum and pop them in her mouth. The circle nodded, Liam gave Harry a sorry look and handed him the cup he had originally been saving for himself.

“Drink up mate,” Adam said, Harry just rolled his eyes, bringing the cup to his lips and taking a sip.

“You guys suck,” He said, putting the cup down and moving closer to Louis, who could literally taste the vodka off his breath. 

“Mmfinshed,” Perrie said around a mouth full of gum.

“Chug!” Harry cried. ‘ _He really is a light weight’_ Louis thought. Perrie uncapped the bottle and immediately brought it to her lips. She tossed her head back getting a decent amount of water before snapping back up and running towards the kitchen. 

“How is it?” Harry shouted, giggling like a two year old.

“It’s like giving Jack Frost a blow job you absolute twat why would you make me do that?!” Perrie retorted as she walked through the door, taking her seat next to Liam as the rest of the circle burst into a fit of laughter.

“Oh shut it, the lot of you,” she said, grinning and beginning to laugh with them, spinning the bottle as she did.

As the night progressed so did Truth or Dare or who do you like or an odd sexual task as Louis had begun to call it; and so did Harry’s arm, which had gone from resting behind him, to being wrapped loosely around Louis’ waist. Seeing as everyone except him, Liam (who didn’t drink at all apparently), and  Perrie was pleasantly tipsy and ready to go home by one am, Louis kept telling himself Harry was just a handsy drunk and that it meant nothing. 

“Now now, children, it’s getting late and, seeing as it is my house, therefore, my rules, this is the last spin,” said Stan, spinning the bottle which landed on Harry.

“Dareeeeee,” he slurred, a mischievous grin played over Stan’s face.

“Well, Harry, I dare you to kiss Louis.”

He was debating whether or not to just do himself a favor and leave the room or to just grin and bear it, he felt a hand under his chin and his eyes were met with Harry’s glassy green ones, the smell of vodka was so strong on his breath Louis could feel himself go a little light headed. And soon enough the pouty, red lips Louis had been nearly infatuated with since year seven, were on his.

The kiss lasted about five seconds, both mouths were closed the entire time, and Louis’ eyes were plastered open. Louis almost cried.

“Alright time to go, Liam get up let’s go,” Perrie shot up, seeing Louis face. Liam quickly got to his feet after her, pulling Harry up by his forearm.

“But I don’t wanttt too gooooo,” Harry whined.

“To bad, you’ve had too much to drink anyway-THANKS STAN!” Liam called behind him as they made their way out of the house and into Harry’s car.

“Just get us home as fast as possible,” Perrie muttered to Liam, who just gave her a nod and shoved Harry into the passenger side.

The drive home was silent, Louis spent the time staring at his shoes and trying not to cry. Louis didn’t notice they were home until Liam turned around in his seat.

“Look, I’m really glad you came and I’m sorry he got drunk and I really hope that we could maybe hang out again sometime Perrie and-“

“Look Liam, I’ll text you okay? I promise, see you on Monday,” she interrupted his rambling, pushing Louis out of the car and swinging it shut behind them.

Louis ran through the front door, bounded up the stairs and climbed the ladder as fast as he could. He threw himself onto his bed, letting a loud sob, that had been building up ever since the kiss, out, clutching his pillow for dear life. 

 It could have been seconds or minutes before he heard the trap door click and the weight shifted on his bed.

"Babes, what's wrong?" Perrie asked, her voice was soft and clam, the same voice she used to console Lottie when she was having issues with school.

Louis sat up, rubbing his eyes with his palms.

"Do you know how long I have _waited_ for that kiss Pezza? How many nights I have spent sobbing and blogging because all I wanted to do was be wrapped up in his arms and kiss his perfect fucking lips? Since the fucking _seventh. grade._ Perrie, I've been waiting since the seventh grade. And that was it. That five second long, drunken mess of a kiss, was the only kiss I'll probably, no not probably, _the_ only kiss I'll  ever get. And he wont even fucking remember it." The tears were rolling down his face again, nearly soaking his cheeks. He hadn't cried like this in ages, not since his parents had gotten divorced. He shouldn't even be _crying_ , he got to kiss his _crush_ for god's sake yet here he is, head in his best friend's lap, sobbing, at one in the morning.

Perrie stayed silent. Other than the occasional, calming "shush" noise, she didn't utter a word, rubbing up and down his back. She just let him cry.

That's why Perrie is his best friend. Yeah, she talks a lot, hell, she talks a ton. But she knows when to shut up. There are times where Louis' upset and she'll tell him to calm down and that everything's going to be okay. But there are times where she just lets him cry, because she knows that’s what he needs; and she'll sit there with him, holding him, but she won't say anything until he's done, because she knows that no matter what she could say, it will never be as helpful as crying.

 

So that's what he does, he lays there, wrapped up in Perrie's arms; and cries.

\---

The first thing he notices when he wakes up is the pounding in his head and the stinging in his eyes. Perrie was already awake, quietly tapping away at his computer.

"What time did I go to sleep last night?" He asked, sitting up and running his hands through his hair. Perrie brought the computer screen down.

"Well, we came home around one ish, and you cried for a good hour, so reckon you tired yourself out at about two am."

"And it's?"

"Eight,"

"Shit, I have work in like, forty five minutes," He jumped out of bed and ran to his dresser, pulling on a clean shirt and grabbing his keys.

"You gonna stay here? I have a double shift today so I won't get off until around four thirty," he asked, pulling on his converse.

"No, I should go, I have a shit ton of homework to do later," She replied, shutting off his laptop and setting down on the bed.

"You should really text Liam, Pez he really seemed to like you last night," He grabbed her arm, hoisting her out of the bed.

"Maybe I will, he's cute," She replied. They made their way down the latter, quietly walking down stairs so as not to disturb the rest of the sleeping Tomlinsons.

Before they parted ways at Louis' garage, Perrie pulled him into a tight hug.

"Try to look on the bright side of last night okay? I love you to pieces, always remember that," She says as she pulls away, before turning around and jogging to her house. Louis smiled to himself, unlocking his car and climbing in. He made his way to work in relative silence, occasionally turning on the radio, but then getting annoyed because they all played the same songs.

His first shift went by as slowly as it possibly could, the eight to twelves were the worst. Nobody wanted to buy their kids toys at eight in the morning. It was after twelve that they started rolling in, parent after parent, screaming child after screaming fucking child.

It was during his third or fourth break (it was a _really_ slow day) that he feels his phone buzz in his pocket. 

**From: Harry**

**Message: So, I am a shitty human being.**

He types back a response without really thinking.

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: And why do you say this?_

He's surprised when a message comes back almost immediately.

**From: Harry**

**Message: Well, I woke up this morning with a massive hangover and absolutely no memory of what happened last night. Which sucks because I really did invite you to have fun, but then I had to go and get myself wasted on two fucking vodkas, which is pathetic I know, and I'm rambling now but I'm really sorry and just..sorry**

Louis stomached dropped at the words 'no memory of what happened last night'. Harry didn't remember. He couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, they could still be friends, which is better than Louis silently taking photos from a distant. On the other hand, any chance of and him has flown out the window. 

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Look, I get it, it was party, you're allowed to have fun, I understand :)_

**From: Harry**

**Message:**   **It still wasn't fair to you for me to get drunk, you now also no that I'm an embarrassing light weight which is lovely -_-**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: I have to admit, that was pretty surprising, it took you what? two drinks to get totally and completely wasted?_

**From: Harry**

**Message: Oh shut up**  

_From: You_

_Message: Make me, Styles_

_"Shit, shit, shit shit shit"_ he thought to himself, jamming his phone into his pocket, as if that would make the text disappear. It hasn't even been a _day_ and Louis already fucked things up. He nearly screams when his phone buzzes in his pocket. Praying things wouldn't be awkward at that unnecessary, over sexualized gem of a text.

**From: Harry**

**Message: So, um, shit, uh, what's up?**

Nope. Things were definitely awkward.

_'Just pretend it never happened'_ he thinks to himself, whipping back a response and leaving the break room.

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Nothing, working the double shift at work_

"Oye, Tomlinson, we need you to work the register,” Hannah calls from the speaker systems.

**From: Harry**

**Message: oh, that’s cool, where do you work?**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: …..not toys r us that’s for sure._

He’s left the break room now, making his way down to register one. Working registers has always been his least favorite part of the job. People either always have some where they need to be in three minutes, or are “too blessed to be stressed” there is literally no in between.

“Are you jerking off in the break room or something?” Hannah asks  leaning over the register parallel to him. 

“Yup, you caught me, I secretly get off to old lady losing their shit about not being able to find a fucking toy,” he retorted, rolling his eyes.

“Watch it, Tommo, we work in a toy story for crying out loud,” she laughed, turning back around to help a flustered young mom.

Louis chuckled to himself and pulled out his phone, he had to bite his wrist just so he wouldn’t squeal when he saw _five_  texts from Harry.

**From: Harry**

**Message: Really?! I could not see you work there at all**

**From: Harry**

**Message: Like, some woman comes in and asks**

**From; Harry**

**Messgae: ‘How much does this cost?”**

**From: Harry**

**Message: and your just like,**  

**From: Harry**

**Message: “I don’t know do you wanna fucking buy it or not???”**

_From: Louis_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Excuse you, I’ll have you know I’m a lovely employee thank you very much_

**From: Harry**

**Message: Lovely to look at that’s for sure**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: what_

**From: Harry**  

**Messgae: what**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: did you just_

**From: Harry**

**Message: no I didn’t**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: okay_

“Excuse me, I need to pay for these,” A short woman asked from the other side of the counter.

Louis didn’t realize he was holding his breath until he exhaled so sharply he nearly went dizzy.

“Of course! Um, here just place your items on the conveyer belt,” he shoved his cell into his pocket. He scanned the items and shoved them in the bag. He collected the customers money and put it in the register; he tried his best to give a kind smile.

“Have a nice day,” He said, through gritted teeth. The woman walked away, without even responding.

“Bitch,” he muttered under his breath, pulling out his phone once again.

**From: Harry**

**Message: soo, what are you doing your end of year project on?**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Um, I was thinking about doing some photography, but I need a new model, if I take any more pictures of Perrie people will seriously think we’re hooking up_  

**From: Harry**

**Message: Not gonna lie, until Liam told me about last night, I thought you guys were too**

Louis’ stomach dropped. _Shit._

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: wait, what happened last night exactly?_

_“Be cool, be. Cool.”_ He thought, taking a deep breath.

**From: Harry**  

**Message: Didn’t she tell you? I think they hooked up, but, I don’t like to gossip.**  

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: awwwww, that’s cute, anyway, what are /you/ doing for your end of year project?_

**From: Harry**

**Message: Oh, um, probably something with music, I don’t really know yet.**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Oh, that’s cool, look, I only have about an hour left on my shift, I’ll text you tonight okay?_

**From: Harry**

**Message: okay bye :)**

He put his phone in his pocket. 

“Hannah, literally nobody’s here, can I just do some stocking?” He asked, tightening his apron around his waist.

“Sure, I think we just got a shipment of legos, check the stock room,” she replied, waving her hand in the general direction of the room.

“Sweet,” He called, jogging over to the room and pulling out a box of the small toys.

_Maybe he does like me._ He thought, opening the box.

_Or, maybe he’s just really friendly._ Loading the boxes onto a cart and wheeling it over to the Lego aisle.

_But that kiss sure wasn’t friendly._ Putting the new boxes on the shelf.

_But that kiss was also alcohol induced and a dare._ Putting the last of the boxes away.

_But he’s also really flirty all the time._ Locking the cart back in the stock room.

_But that could totally just be his personality._ Hanging his apron up in the break room.

_He’s probably just a really nice human being._ Driving home

_Who happens to have a really forward and flirty personality._ Walking up to his room.

_And a really good kisser._ Flinging himself face first onto his bed.

_Fuck._ Turning the lights off and just trying to fall asleep, despite the fact that it’s somewhere around five o’clock.

Louis expected literally nothing to have changed on Monday. He _really_ did not expect Harry and Liam to sit with them at lunch. And he really _really_ did not expect Harry to sit so close to him there was nowhere else for Louis to move; not that he wanted to, really. 

“How was work yesterday? You never answered my texts,” Harry asked, his voice sounded soft, almost…hurt.

Louis’ stomach did a flip.

“Shit, Harry I’m sorry, I just got home and I fell asleep and I just. Ugh.” He lay his head on the lunchroom table, not bothering to think of the probably thousands of germs that coexisted on its surface.

“I am an awful human being and I apologize,” he mumbled, face first into the table hoping Harry would hear him.

“It’s cool, I get it,” Harry laughed, placing a hand on his shoulder. “ _This means nothing, this is a friendly shoulder grab, not an ‘I want to fuck you over this table' grab, pull your self together, Tomlinson.”_  

“So, I’m still really confused here, are you two lost or what, like, did someone put you up to this?” Perrie asked, Louis sat up from his surprisingly comfortable position. 

“We went to a party together, we watched Harry get completely smashed on two measly cups of alcohol, we’ve bonded.” Liam replied, simply, pulling out his lunch and beginning to devour his sandwich. 

“But I just, I don’t, aren’t you football players? Like, I just cant comprehend-“

“Shut up and eat you food Pez,” Louis interrupted, giving her a look that said “shut up and let me have this moment or I swear to god.

“Why are you two sitting so close exactly?” She asked, pulling her ‘If you sass me in front of anyone I will publicly shame you, Tommo’ act that she has used countless times. 

Harry looked up from his food, “there’s something sticky on that side of the bench and if I sit over there it’d be a weird three to one ratio and that would be weird,” he replied, giving a sweet, almost childlike grin. “Plus, I like sitting next to Lou,” he added, slapping his hand on Louis thigh, which would have been a totally platonic move he hadn’t _kept his fucking hand there._  

_“I swear to god if you don’t stop touching me I’m going to pass out.”_  

They ate the rest of their lunch like that, all four of them chatting about anything that really came to mind. Liam and Perrie completely oblivious to the fact that Harry’s hand remained on Louis' thigh, occasionally giving a light squeeze whenever Louis said something funny; _which was apparently all the fucking time._  

When the bell rang, warning them that they had ten minutes to get to their next class, an audible sigh escaped from all four of them.

“This was surprisingly fun, we should do it again sometime,” Liam said, crumpling up the brown paper brown that once held his lunch.

“What? You mean school or?” Perrie retorted, making Liam laugh, everything Perrie did made Liam laugh.

“You know what I mean,” he replied, giving her the same smile he gave her when he first saw her rainbow hair. 

“What class do you have next period?” Harry mumbled into Louis' ear, making him nearly jump.

“Uh, English, you?”

“Maths, wanna walk to class together? Seeing as Liam kind of stole Perrie,” He pointed a long finger over to where the two were sitting, or, _had_ been sitting.

“Liam and I both have chemistry, see you after school Lou,” Perrie called from behind her shoulder, making her way out of the cafeteria with the taller boy.

“That sly motherfucker,” Louis chuckled, turning towards Harry, “and, maths is on the other side of the  building, I’m not making you late for class, but, you _can_ come with me to my locker,” he said, trying his best to give a playful smile, which Harry returned with his signature grin.

“You know what’s really weird?” Louis asked, after they cleared their table and began to make their way towards Louis’ locker.

“The fact that there are only twenty-two Starbucks' in Australia?” Harry replied.

“As much as an abomination as that it, I was thinking about something else,” Louis said, surprised that he hadn’t yet blushed or squealed throughout this entire conversation.

“Enlighten me, then.”

“The fact that up until like, Wednesday we had _never_ talked, like let’s be honest, never, and now we’re here having lunch together.” 

“Yup, the best of mates,” Harry replied, giving him another warm smile.

_“There it is again, the fucking friendzone,”_ Louis thought, sighing a tad.

“Well, here’s my locker, so, I’ll see you after class or something, or just like, I don’t know-“

“I’ll text you,” Harry interrupted, smirking before giving Louis another shoulder squeeze and sauntering off; he literally sauntered off like the star of some 1980’s high school movie. 

Louis grabbed his stuff out of his locker, trying to get to class as quickly as possible. He sat quietly in his seat at back of the room, waiting patiently for Ms. Lloyd to begin class.

“Happy Monday my friends, I must say, I read your essays this weekend, and, for the most part, they’re awesome, obviously, they need some work; but that’s why we’re here, to become better writers, so, I’m going to hand these back and give you the period to work with me, if some of you want to meet with me personally, feel free but, I’m busy after class so, now or never. Let’s get to passing.” She walked up and down the aisles, passing back essays; Louis held his breath, his essay had been a tad " _risky"._  

“Good job Louis,” she said, handing him back his paper. He started at it, face down on his paper, reluctantly turning it over. Scattered about the paper were some minor pen marks, highlighting his writing mechanics mistakes. Up at the top of the top of the page, in big, bold red pen, were the words “see me during class.”

_Fuck._

“Alright, does anyone need to meet with me?” She asked from the front of the room, Louis was the only one who raised his hand, letting his eyes blur so he didn’t have to look his teacher in the eye.

“Alright then, Louis and I will head out to the hallway, I expect this to be a _silent_ work period. Louis, lets go,” she motioned towards the door with her thumb. He slid out of his chair, grabbing his essay and heading out of the class room. She led him down the hallway into the room usually used for parent conferences. 

“So, obviously, I wanted to talk to you about your essay,” She said, locking her fingers together.

“Look, I’ll change it, I’ll find something else to write about, just _please_ don’t fail me, I can’t fail this class and-“

“Louis, I loved it,” she interjected, stopping Louis in his metaphorical tracks.

“Wait, what?”

“It was, by far, the best I’ve seen, it was so surprisingly well written; and the only reason I say surprisingly here is because you’re so young, yet you captured this amazing image in just one essay, I'm really just blown away I guess." 

Louis was shocked, considering the fact that he totally and completely bullshit that essay.

"So you wanted to see me, why?" He asked, fully aware of his confused tone.

"I wanted to talk to you about publishing it," she said, giving him a hopeful glance.

"Absolutely not,"

"But Louis-"

"No way in hell." He interrupted her, fully aware of the fact that this was a _teacher_ he was speaking to.

"But why, Louis?" She asked, a disappointed ring in her voice.

"Because, A, it's a person I wrote about and publishing it without their consent is probably illegal in some way, and B, referring to the person in point A, they have no idea I wrote this essay, and I would like to keep it that way; so thank you for the compliment, really it means a lot, but no thanks." He got up, collecting his essay, and made his way to the door.

"When are you going to tell them, Louis," she said, her voice soft, almost pleading.

"What do you mean?" Louis mumbled, facing the door.

"How old do you think I am exactly? You just admitted that the essay was about someone, and obviously there's some, tension," she fluttered her hands in the air around the word 'tension'.

"Nothing, Ms.L, I'm not going to do anything," he sighed, opening the door and stepping through it. 

He made a B-line for the bathroom, locking himself in the back stall.

He slammed himself against the wall, sliding down slowly, essay clutched in his hands. His eyes burned with the tears that oh so desperately needed to escape. He was _not_ crying, he was _fine._

_"_ You're so fucking pathetic," he whispered to himself, shutting his eyes so tight it almost hurt. 

"What the fuck is wrong with you? You're such a loser," he muttered, ignoring the tears the streamed down his face as he opened his eyes to stare at the essay. 

He stayed like that for a while, staring at the crumpled pages in his hand before ripping them to shreds, tossing the remains in the toilet. He stood up, brushing himself off and existing the tiny stall.

"Pull yourself together," he said to himself in the mirror, splashing cold water on his face. He texts Perrie, not really expecting her to respond.

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Guess it's not a day until you've cried in the bathroom._

**From: Pezza**

**Message: Nonononononono, sad Louis is not good, what's going on?**

He left the bathroom, making his way towards the front door of the school, rather than back to class.

_From: You_

_Message: Stupid shit, which is just awesome, I'm going home, come over later okay?_

He didn't make eye contact with the receptionist as he walked out the door, the brisk air hitting him like a ton of bricks as he jogged to his car.

The drive home took about half the time it normally did, seeing as it was two forty five in the afternoon.

"Honey I'm homeeeeee!" He called, not really expecting anyone to respond.

"And why so early?" His mother called back.

"Ms. Lloyd got sick, so we got last period free," he replied, making his way up the stairs. "Any way, I'm going to start my homework, Pez might come over after class," he added, pulling down the late to his room.

"Alrighty, but no tumblr okay? I want you to actually get some work done," she replied.

"Yes mum," he called from his room, yanking the ladder back up and shutting the trap door.

\--

Two hours and one post limit later Louis found himself lying on his bed facing the ceiling.

**From: Pezza**

**Message: Need to cram for my bio test, luv you, call me if you need me**

He didn't bother responding; in all honesty, he didn't even know why he was upset. It was like the acceptance of the fact that he really _wasn't_ going to do a thing about Harry had finally hit him. He had known for years that the chances between him and his crush were very slim, but there was always that voice in the back of his mind that said he had a chance. But now, after becoming some sort of friends with the boy, he realized he was completely and utterly hopeless.

Louis ends up falling asleep at some point; shutting his phone off in an attempt to get away from the world and the paradox that was Harry Styles.

\---

He ends up being jarred out of sleep, not by his alarm clock, but by an angry, rainbow-haired teenage girl.

"Perrie what the fuck are you doing in my room at six in the morning?," He groaned, reluctantly climbing out of bed.

"For your information, it's six forty five and we have school in twenty minutes; and you shouldn't shut your phone off because A) your alarm didn't go off and B) I got a call from Liam at fucking one am asking me if you were mad at Harry. So get your shit together and lets go." She commanded, pointing to Louis dresser. Perrie absolutely hated being late to things, more than she hated having normal colored hair.

"Liam called you?" Louis yawned, stripping of his clothes from yesterday and replacing them for fresh ones.

"Yes, because apparently Harry called _him_ saying you weren't answering his texts and that he thinks your pissed at him. I swear to god that boy is so in love with you it's-"

"Perrie stop," Louis growled, earning a shocked look from his best friend.

"What the fuck was that?" She asked, her eyes wide.

"Stop saying he's in love with me. Stop saying he likes me. Stop saying he's attracted to me. Just stop, stop getting my hopes up only to have them crushed every time he calls me his 'mate' or his 'pal'. Just fucking stop," he spoke slowly, words coming out much harsher than he really meant them too. Perrie didn't reply, just gave him a soft look, handed him his backpack and climbed down the latter.

The ride to school was silent, the only words spoken as they pulled into to their parking spot in front of the buildings were: "Just turn on your fucking phone, I'll see you at lunch," before Perrie practically hurled herself out o the vehicle and sped walked into the building.

Louis sighed, looking down at his cell phone, which rested heavily in his hands.

**Message: You have nine message notifcations.**

**From: Harry**

**Message: Hey! You weren't by your locker, everything alright?**

**From: Harry**

**Message: Perrie said you ditched, u okay?**

**From: Harry**

**Message: u ok? something going on?**

**From: Harry**

**Message: jfc I'm annoying,**

**From: Harry**

**Message: I'm bugging you, sorry, see you at lunch**

**From: Pezza**

**Message: oye, text me back you fucker**

**From: Pezza**

**Message: lewis -_-**

**From: Pezza**

**Messgae: okay then, you obviously hit post limit and are asleep, I'll c u in the AM**

**From: Pezza**

**Message: So, it's one in the fucking morning and I got a call from a very tired and flustered liam saying harry had called him saying your pissed at him what the fuck**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Hey harry, I just ditched class yesterday and I shut my phone off, you're not annoying, I'm sorry I'm a dick._  

 He climbed out of the driver's side and began to make his way to the library, " _thank god for first period study hall"_ he thought, before sending another quick text to Perrie.

_From: You,_  

_To: Pezza_

_Message: I'm an asshole_

He jumped when his phone notified him of two messages.

**From: Harry**

**Message: I feel really annoying**

**From: Pezza**

**Message: Yeah, you are. But you're just not seeing this whole picture thing with harry.**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Oh god, no, don't I'm really sorry you're not annoying_

_From: You_

_To; Pezza_

_Message: what do you mean exactly?_

**From: Pezza**

**Message: I'm not going to tell you, you need to figure it out, see u in lunch**

**From: Harry**

**Message: What class are you in?**

_From: You_

_To: Harry_

_Message: uh, I have a free, in the library, u?_

**From: Harry**

**Message: sweet, see you**  

"Wait what the fuck?" Louis whispered to his phone, staring at the message lighting up his phones.

"What'cha lookin' at Louis?" A deep voice whispered in his ear, making him jerk in his seat.

"Jesus, when you said 'see you' I assumed you meant lunch," Louis hissed, trying not to smile when Harry sat next to him.

"Nope," he replied, pulling out a laptop from his backpack.

"Don’t you have class?" Louis asked, opening his laptop.

"Actually no, Mr. Keller's baby is sick so, free period," Harry reassured him. 

"Well, let's get to work then."

\---

"Have you decided your end of year project?" Louis asked as they made their way to the cafeteria after, literally, the most unproductive study period of Louis' life.

"Yeah, but it's a surprise," Harry replied, grinning.

"There you go being all mysterious again," Louis retorted, leading the way to the lunch table, where Niall, Zayn and Perrie sat waiting for them.

"Well, if it isn't the famously infamous Harry Styles, the one and onl- OW!" Niall cried, clutching the leg that Perrie had just kicked rather hard. 

"Hey Harry," Zayn said, glaring at Perrie.

"Zayn, my man!" Harry said, and then looked at Perrie, "Liam's on his way, don't worry," he added.

"I wasn't going to ask," Perrie blushed before motioning to the half empty bench, "sit. There's nothing sticky, I swear."

Harry complied, dragging Louis down with him. Liam soon joined them, taking a seat next to Perrie and greeting the other lads.

"So, do you just like, attract football players?" Niall asked Perrie around a mouthful of food.

"Guess so," she replied, smiling before turning to whisper something to Liam.

The rest of the period was as calm as things could be with Niall and Perrie, Louis tried his hardest not to stop breathing when Harry linked ankles with him; trying his best not to look down at his feet every fifteen seconds. 

\---

The rest of the day went by as an other day would. Louis went to class, drove home with Perrie, did his homework and tried his best not to squeal when Harry texted him.

**From: Harry**

**Message: Goodnight xx :)**

_From: Louis_

_To: Harry_

_Message: Goodnight  xx._

_\---_

_"_ So when are you going to admit you have the biggest crush on Liam?" Louis asked one day as he and Perrie skyped. It had been raining for the past three days and neither of them wanted to leave their warm homes to see the other.

It had been a little over a month, and so far Liam and Harry had joined them every day for lunch, and even a few times at Starbucks.

"When are you going to admit that there's obvious sexual tension between you and Harry?" She retorted, raising an eyebrow.

As well as joining him for lunch everyday and texting him every single day until the insane hours of the night; Harry still found a way to constantly be touching him, always sitting next to him, patting his shoulder, rubbing back, anything to be touching Louis.

"As soon as you admit that there's something going on between you and Liam,"

"There's nothing going on between me and Liam that isn't going on between you and Harry," she argued.

"But that's different, I _love_ Harry, things are always going to be different between us then things with you and Liam,"

"Well yeah I guess- wait what." She stopped in her tracks, staring at Louis.

"Did I just?" He whispered, staring back at Perrie.

"I'm coming over," she replied, ending the call. 

Within five minutes they were both up in Louis' room, Louis pacing like a mad man.

 "Shit Pez what do I do, what do I do?!"

"I'm skyping Zayn now," she replied, soon enough the screen lit up with Zayn's face.

"Hey Pezza, what's up?" he asked, voice quiet.

"Is Niall there?" she asked, cutting right to the chase.

"Um, yeah, but he's asleep, what's going on?" Zayn asked, his voice full of worry.

"Louis said he loves Harry," 

"..Bring him to the screen."  Louis complied, sitting on the bed and facing the camera.

"Is it true?" Zayn asked, staring directly at him.

"Yeah, I mean I said it and me and Pez were arguing and I Just-"

"I don't care about any of that, do you or do you not love him?" He interjected.

Louis sighed, staring blankly at the screen in front of him before muttering "yeah, I think I do."

"Then you need to tell him," Zayn replied simply, Perrie nodded in agreement. 

For some reason, after four years of pining and hiding his crush in the dark, he was done. 

"Yeah, okay, let's do this."

\----

It had been exactly a week, plans had been made, people had been texted, and here Louis was watching as Harry climbed out of is car from his bedroom.

**From: Harry**

**Message: I'm outside :)**

Louis took a deep breath " _You can do this, Tommo, go get em."_

He  rushed downstairs as fast as he could, throwing the front door open.

"Hello, " he said, breathlessly, his stomach felt like lead.

"Hey," Harry laughed, Louis walked out the door, shutting it behind him.

"So you said you wanted to tell me something? Is it too big of a secret to tell me in your house?" Harry asked, giving him a questioning look.

"Yeah, follow me, don't worry I have a better place," Louis replied, motioning towards behind his house, "it's a short walk I promise."

They made their way to the oak tree quietly, Louis a couple paces in front of Harry, pondering weather or not he should just make something up and not tell the boy about his crush.

"Wow, this is amazing," Harry said, staring up at the huge tree.

"Yeah, come on up," replied Louis, climbing up and sitting on one of the thicker branches, Harry soon next to him.

"I haven't been honest with you Harry," he began, searching Harry's face, his eyes were wide, but he didn't say anything. 

"This, I don't know how to say this, really. I just, I never expected us to ever be friends so I never thought I would actually have to deal with things like this, and I just, I got to know you and I just need to be honest with you." He paused, taking a breath. "I really like you Harry, like not just as a friend, I like you as in I have had a _massive_ crush on you since seventh year and I just, I needed you to know this, I really fucking like you and I just-" he was interrupted by a pair of soft lips crashing against his; Harry's hand cupping his face while the other tried to keep them steady.

"I haven't been honest with you either, actually," Harry murmured against Louis' lips, pulling away just enough so their noses were still brushing against each other. "Well a couple things really," he added sheepishly.

"And those things are?" Louis asked softly, his entire brain was still fuzzy from the fact that _Harry Styles had just kissed him, sober._

"Well, one, I've had a massive crush on you since ninth year," he began, before placing a slow, lingering kiss on Louis lips. "Two, I remember everything from Stan's party," he grinned, placing a chaste kiss on Louis' lips before Louis pulled himself away in mock shock.

"You mean to tell me, Mr. Harry Styles over here is not the famous lightweight I've come to know and love? I just don't know how to deal with this," Louis tried his best not to smile, but with Harry looking at him with lips that looked oh, so kissable, it was hard.

"Oh shut up and kiss me you fool," Harry grinned; Louis complied.

\---

"For the love of god Harry it's like, eleven, can you stand still for five more minutes so we can do other things," Louis groaned, resting his camera on the stool next to him.

The two had been dating for about four months now, and it was glorious. Louis finally had the courage to ask Harry to be his new model for  his end of year project, which was in about three months; so now they're here, in Louis room, at eleven o'clock at night, and Harry can't stand still for the life of him.

"But Louisss, I'd rather be _doing_ other things," Harry complained, wiggling his eyebrows at his exasperated boyfriend.

"At this rate there will be no time for other things- jesus how do you mess up your hair in five seconds Harold," Louis rolled his eyes, walking over to where Harry was standing to fix his hair.

He had to hold his breath when he got close to Harry to keep from kissing him, trying his best to ignore Harry when he slipped his knee in-between Louis' legs.

"There, that should do it," Louis stammered, beginning to take a step back, when he realized he was being held in place by Harry's enormous hands on his hips.

"I think it's time for a break babe," murmured Harry, closing his mouth over Louis' before the boy could protest. 

They kissed languidly, Louis' hands curled in Harry's hair. Harry leaned down and grabbed at Louis thighs, hoisting him up and holding him tight as Louis curled his legs around his slim waist. He carried him over to the bed, laying the smaller boy down before climbing over him and straddling his hips. 

"Are we doing this?" Harry asked breathlessly, pulling away from the bruising kiss, before leaning down and attaching himself to Louis' neck.

"Do you have anything?" Louis asked, voice coming out much higher than he expected it. Harry reluctantly pulled himself away and practically bounded over to his bag, he fished through it for a few seconds before triumphantly holding up a small bag, which Louis could see contained both condoms and lube.

"Have you just been carrying that with you for the part four months?" Louis asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Only since I started sleeping over," Harry replied tossing the bag onto the bed side table before crawling on top Louis once more.

"Glad to see you're prepared," Louis smiled, pulling him down for another kiss.

"Yeah yeah, always prepared, now take your clothes off," Harry whined, pulling at the hem of Louis shirt, yanking it off before pulling his own off as well.

"Fuck, Haz," Louis whimpered as the boy above him began to grind against him in slow, taintive circles.

"That's the plan," Harry smirked, removing himself from Louis' neck to admire the several love bites he had just left.

"Get on it then," Louis whined, lifting his hips in order to find some sort of friction. 

"You know.." Harry began as he slowly made his way down Louis torso, "some say patience is a virtue." He undid Louis jeans and pulled them down, tossing them to the floor before standing up and removing his own, pulling his underwear off as well. 

In the entire four months they'd been together, Louis had never really seen him fully naked. He was all lean muscle and long limbs and perfect, pale white skin with black tattoos making the perfect stark contrast. Harry was beautiful. 

"What are you staring at?" Harry asked, a blush creeping over his cheeks as he attempted to cover himself from what Louis guessed was his own intense stare.

"You are, by far, the most gorgeous human being on the planet," he replied, pulling himself up so he was standing in front of the taller boy. "I could literally look at you for hours," he added, giving a soft smile. 

Harry surged forward, knocking both of them backward on the bed in a bruising kiss.

"I love you," Harry muttered in between kisses, placing them all over Louis neck and face.

"I love you too, Beautiful," Louis replied, bucking his hips into Harry's, hoping he would get the message. 

"Turn around, love," Harry chuckled, Louis did as he was told, gasping as Harry slowly pulled off his underwear.

"And you say I'm the beautiful one," Harry said, placing a soft kiss at the back of his neck before moving down his spine, alternating between soft pecks and leaving dark love bites until he reached his bum. He placed his hand over one of the cheeks before spreading them; Louis was about to complain about how his throbbing dick _really_ needed attention when- _oh._

Harry licked a fat stripe against Louis' hole before plunging his tongue into the tight ring of muscle. 

Louis was gone.

"Oh Harry, fuck yes," He sobbed, burring his face in the pillow as Harry began to switch between fingering him open and rimming him into an incoherent mess. 

"Harry, please, I need you _please Harry,"_ He begged, beginning to fuck himself onto his boyfriends fingers and tongue.

"Well, since you asked so nicely," Harry purred, reaching over to the bedside table and grabbing the small bag he had thrown there earlier. 

"Turn around, I want to see you," he said, placing the bag back on the bedside table, dimming the lamp as he did so. 

Louis was practically arching into the air, begging for any sort of friction that would relive him of his throbbing erection.

Harry looked down at his panting, needy boyfriend and grinned, lining himself up at Louis entrance. He intertwined his finger with Louis, placing a slow kiss on his lips before sliding in, inch by inch, waiting for Louis to adjust.

"Are you okay?" He whispered, voice sincere and full of worry.

"Yes, oh my god, please just move," Louis whimpered, twirling the fingers of his free hand into Harry's hair and grinding his hips down for more. 

"As you wish," Harry smiled, slowly beginning to thrust in and out, rolling his hips every so often until-

"FUCK!" Louis gasped, arching his back against the bed. Harry got the message, and began to thrust harder and faster into his prostate continuously.

"Fuck, you're tight," Harry moaned, burring his head in his boyfriends neck, licking and sucking at the juncture between his neck and shoulder as he began to speed up his thrusts.

"Please, don't stop, I'm so close, please just don't fucking stop," Louis begged, gripping Harry's hand tightly in his own.

"You're so fucking tight," Harry moaned,  "so fucking close." 

His thrust become more and more erratic as he neared his orgasm, finally coming with an erratic surge of his hips. He reached his free hand down in between their chest. gripping Louis' throbbing erection and flicking his wrist up twice, making Louis come almost immediately.

"That, was incredible," Louis breathed, leaning back as Harry tied and threw away the condom, crawling back into bed and pulling them both under the covers.

"Agreed," he replied, wrapping his long arms around Louis waist, pulling him in so his head lay perfectly in the nape of his neck.

"You know, I meant what I said, you really are beautiful," Louis whispered, spreading his hand over Harry's chest, right where his two bird tattoos met.

"And I meant what I said," he murmured back, holding Louis as tightly to him as he could. "I really love you, like, a lot," he said, placing a kiss on top of Louis' head.

Louis' heart was beating so fast he swore it was about to  beat right out of his chest. Here his was, laying in bed, being held by the boy he had been in love with since the seventh grade. Something he had dreamed about for ages. Harry loved him.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I really love you too," he replied, nuzzling his head into Harry's chest.

"Goodnight, love," Harry murmured.

"Goodnight, Beautiful." 

\---

"I would now like to invite Mr. Louis Tomlinson to the stage to present his end of year project. Take em away, Louis."

The crowd clapped as Louis climbed the stairs onto the stage, Liam, Harry, Perrie, Niall and Zayn clapping louder than anyone in the entire auditorium. 

"So, I had a couple ideas for this project, but then things happened, essay's were written, boyfriends were acquired, so I decided to do a combination. Now, I'm going to give you all a presentation about the most beautiful thing, or person, I've ever seen." He spoke into the microphone, careful to not let his voice falter with nervousness as he pressed the button on the small remote in his hand, queing the slide show behind him to begin. 

He looked at Harry's face as the pictures began to play on the screen; he hadn't exactly been honest with him, telling him he just needed a model for normal photography, not a dedication to his beauty.

"Do you ever look at someone for the first time, and think to yourself "my god, that is an attractive human being?" You don't even have to know somebody to acknowledge the fact that they are attractive nor do you have to know someone to become attracted to them. And this attraction could start as early as, lets say, seventh year," he received a small laugh from his friends as he continued speaking into the mic, trying to keep eye contact with Harry. "This attraction could last for years, even without ever really talking to this person, you're still attracted to them. Then one day, something changes, maybe you exchange phone numbers, or talk at some party, it doesn't matter, what matters is that something's different; and after all those years of pining after someone, you finally get to know them and you develop this friendship." He turned around slightly to make sure the pictures of Harry behind him had morphed into photos of him and Harry together, still just platonic friends. Then turned back around to face the crowd, more Harry then anyone else.

"So know you're friends and their personality starts to play into who they are. At first all you saw was the way they looked on the outside and all you saw was this attractive person. But now, you know who they are, what they like to do and you don't see them in the same light anymore; they're still attractive in a sense, but now their personality has morphed into the way they look and you just can't bring yourself to describe them as "hot" or "attractive" anymore. You find yourself using words like "stunning", "beautiful" and "gorgeous." And it's frustrating at times because, on one hand, you can't wrap your head around how one person can hold so much beauty and not realize it, and how the rest of the world can't see it; you want everyone in the world to know how stunning this person is. But on the other hand, you want them all to yourself." he stops to take a breath and look over at Harry, who's wiping his eyes and still staring directly at him.

"And even saying those words now, beautiful, stunning, gorgeous, none of them fit. It's like whoever created the English language hadn't anticipated that someone as amazing as you would ever come along. So I'm stuck, using words like perfect and incredible, even though none of those words even _begin_ to describe how amazing you are. So, until I can find a word that tells you how perfectly gorgeous you are to me, I think I'll call you Harry." He stepped away from the microphone watching as the screen faded back, before turning around to face the crowd. Everybody was standing, people where clapping and cheering and some where even crying.

He almost falls off the stage when Harry runs up and pulls him into the tightest hug. Lifting him off the ground and spinning in front of everybody.

"That, was the most amazing thing anyone has ever done for me," he sobbed, cupping Louis' face in his hands. "I love you so much, so so _so_ much," he added before crashing their lips together, the crowd cheered even louder, Louis could hear a faint wolf whistle, probably from Niall.

"I love you too, Beautiful."

-FIN-

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to snowflakesoflou.tumblr.com for editing this! find me on tumblr: larryshipsziall.tumblr.com


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